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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! Now the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena? | „ |
| ~ Commodus' plans against Maximus Decimus Meridius. |
| “ | They tell me your son screamed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross. And your wife moaned like a whore when they ravaged her... again... and again... and again. | „ |
| ~ Commodus taunting Maximus over the deaths of the latter's wife and son. |
Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, also known as Emperor Commodus, is the main antagonist of the 2000 historic action film Gladiator.
He is the only son of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. However, Commodus is also the black sheep of his family as he is a cruel, ruthless, arrogant, spoiled and egotistical psychopath who lusts after his own sister and thinks of himself as a god and Maximus Decimus Meridius's arch-enemy.
He was portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Despite him being rejected to rule as Emperor, his father, Marcus Aurelius had mentioned he wasn't even fit to rule, meaning he was already a horrible person before the film began and went far past his actions, and even if he may have lied or exaggerated somethings or possibly not loving him enough, that doesn't excuse Commodus from murdering his own father in cold blood. Even though Marcus genuinely regretted being a terrible father, Commodus still kills him anyways. To make it far worse, he blamed it on Maximus Decimus Meridius. Hence why he almost got executed.
- After Maximus refused to swear fealty to Commodus, he orders his family to be killed. Later in the film, Commodus even taunts Maximus over their gruesome deaths. Maximus' wife was gangraped by his soldiers and his son was crucified and dragged by horses. He cruelly taunts Maximus over their gruesome deaths and how they screamed during their agony.
- After a few days as Caesar of Rome, he hosts 150 days full of various tournaments that involve slaves brutally killing each other just to distract the people from defying his tyrannical rule. These games also ended up ruining Rome's economy in the long run, making him responsible for the eventual degradation and fall of the empire.
- Tried to outlaw the Roman Parliament because his members opposed his actions and likely also because they wanted to stop these games too.
- Intervenes on the Colosseum fights to get Maximus to be killed. He led a few tigers under the pits that came out in the middle of his duel with armored warriors. Finally, he was horrified not only that Maximus got out alive but also received the praise of the masses for being "merciful" to his rival.
- Upon discovering Maximus survived, he executed all the People who mistakenly told him that the General was killed prematurely, even though they did not intend to deceive him. He was even standing next to them at the time of the killing.
- A few days later, he orders his Praetorian Guards to kill off the conspirators partaking in the plot to assist Maximus in escaping from Rome to build a rebellion and overthrow his rule, killing Proximo and Hagen.
- Blackmails his own sister to sleep with him under the threat that he'll kill her young son, who is also his own nephew. After he found that his sister was acting behind his back for Maximus, he screams at her that he is more merciful than him, since he does not execute her.
- On that occasion he orders to ban members of parliament who agreed to meet with Maximus.
- Illegally stabs Maximus before his match to gain the advantage in their final duel at the Colosseum, which eventually results in both their deaths once the duel ends.
- Right after Quintus had the guards sheath their swords, Commodus cheats again by pulling another dagger from his pale royal robes. This dirty move was finally enough for his guards to turn against him and decline to help him in the duel, allowing Maximus to put an end to his rule. Furthermore, the people became witnesses to his cowardice.
- Even though Maximus kills him, the death is not played for sympathy as he totally deserved it for killing his own father, Maximus' family and other families he tore apart too. Given how his body is left at the colosseum without anyone caring about it after the end of the movie, goes to show what an egregious and horrible person he was towards the people of Rome.
Trivia[]
- In the original script, Commodus was going to force Maximus Decimus Meridius and Proximo, who would have survived his Praetorian Guard's ambush, to duel to the death in the Colosseum during the film's climax, which would have resulted in Maximus dying like in the finished product and Proximo living. However, these plans had to be altered due to Oliver Reed's sudden death during filming, which forced the filmmakers to kill Proximo off and have Commodus himself face Maximus in the Colosseum instead. Had the original concept been kept, it would have possibly made Commodus even worse.
- It's possible that director Ridley Scott doesn't see Commodus as Pure Evil, as Scott mentioned in the lead-up to his Napoleon film that he always saw Commodus as "the most sympathetic character" in the film due to being the product of the neglectful father Marcus Aurelius was. This is in spite that Marcus acknowledged his mistakes and tried to make Commodus understand. His claims do not detract Commodus' status, however, and he remains Pure Evil due to his callous actions and his supposed sympathetic traits are obviously nonexistent.
- Commodus was one of the inspirations behind Jack Gleeson's portrayal of Joffrey Baratheon.
External Links[]
- Commodus on the Villains Wiki
- Commodus on the Pathetic Pinhead Wiki
[]
 Pure Evils
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